Reprints with Permission

Fluoridation and Cancer

SOURCE: NYS Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation

New York -- February 6, 2002 -- Fluoride added to public water supplies may be linked to cancer suggests two new studies, reports the New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation.

The likelihood of fluoride acting as a genetic cause of cancer requires consideration, writes Takahashi and colleagues in the July 2001 Journal of Epidemiology (1) who found that 23 of 36 cancer sites (63.9%) were associated positively with fluoridation status, using World Health Organization data and the U.S. Fluoridation Census.

Some studies, e.g., Hoover (1976) and Knox (1985) claim no credible fluoridation/cancer association exists. However, Takahashi and co-authors found the Hoover/Knox assessments flawed, and explain why in their paper.

The authors report that the National Cancer Institute provided epidemiological evidence of a relation between cancer incidence and water fluoridation in 1987. These findings provoked a 1990 National Toxicology Program (NTP) study that determined fluoride could be a cancer-causing agent because four, out of 261, male rats developed osteosarcoma (a rare bone cancer).

The NTP study supplied a detailed description of the toxicology of fluoride, not only in terms of osteosarcoma, but also lesions in the oral mucosa, thyroid gland, skin and uterus...(which) prompted us to re-test the hypothesis of an epidemiological association between water fluoridation and cancer incidences..., wrote Takahashi who found fluoridation status positively correlates to cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx, colon, rectum, hepato-bilary & urinary organs and bone cancer in males.

Such a broad spectrum association has never been observed for any particular known carcinogen, but it may be reasonable for fluoride, because of its strong electronegative nature, the authors explain.

After ten years of water fluoridation, children aged 7-18 in Newburgh, N.Y., had more cortical bone defects than the non-fluoridated control city, Kingston. And more osteosarcoma occurred in young males in fluoridated portions of New Jersey. ... these two facts may be connected pathophysiologically, Takahashi reports.

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Takahashi urges researchers worldwide to further assess fluoride as a genetic cause of cancers ... and stop the application of fluoride for prevention of teeth caries (cavities) if this indeed presents as a risk factor for cancer.

In another study, (2) Ramesh and colleagues propose that high fluoride bone content might have been one of the major factors causing osteosarcoma, in the Journal of Environmental Pathology, Toxicology and Oncology, 2001, Vol. 20, Issue 3.

Ramesh, et al, analyzed bone samples of 20 Indian osteosarcoma patients. The very high levels of fluoride accumulation in the bone samples of (2 Indian osteosarcoma patients) in which p53 gene mutation have also been detected suggest that possible adverse effects of fluoride on the DNA of the osteosarcoma patients, Ramesh and colleagues write.

Mutations in the p53 genes are the most commonly observed genetic alterations in human cancer. Ramesh concludes that fluoride probably causes mutations in p53.

These new findings raise important questions about potential harm from water fluoridation, especially when coupled with the current recognition that ingesting fluoride does not reduce tooth decay but has caused a massive increase in disfiguring dental fluorosis, says lawyer Paul Beeber, President, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation.

The NYS Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation consists of scientists, physicians, dentists, legislators, lawyers, environmentalists, university professors, other professionals, and concerned citizens who volunteer their efforts to inform the public about fluoride and fluoridation's scientifically supported harmful dental, systemic and cumulative effects to balance the usually pro-fluoridation opinion reported by mainstream media.

(1) www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

(2) www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

NYS Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc., www.orgsites.com/ny/nyscof

Paul Connett, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry, St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY, ggvideo@northnet.org, Fluoride Action Network /www.fluoridealert.org/f-bonecancer.htm

Last Updated October 2004